Firstly, I use linux for self hosting, and have a love-hate relationship for any other purpose. I’ve been trying to make the full transition since about 2009(?) and always end up back on the spyware-riddled Microswamp ad-delivery system.
I’m going to get downvoted for saying this, but if Linux could make hardware tasks as easy as Microsoft, namely printing, Windows would be a thing of the past.
I could put Mint on my 72 y.o.mom’s computer and she probably wouldn’t notice the difference until she had to do something dealing with hardware (connect a camera, or god forbid, print something).
inb4 just use cups - My mom doesn’t gasf about dependencies, chown, and chasing terminal errors for 6 hours to print an agenda for the ladies’ church meeting and then have it break itself the next day. This is why it fails. Linux purists who don’t care that people don’t have time for CLI will disagree, and that is precisely what keeps things in the current state.
Obviously I don’t know your setup, but Linux is far easier for printing in most cases. The drivers are built in, and just work. No third party driver packages full of spyware and ink ads necessary.
Hardware support, in general, has always been a struggle for Linux, but in the last few years, two things have happened to tip the scale:
Technology kinda stopped advancing. Products are, more often then not, a rehash of last years model with no major changes. This means if Linux gets support for last year’s device, it’ll probably work with this years with minor to no changes.
Growing Linux popularity has increased the profile enough that companies are at least trying a little to support Linux, even if it is mostly just making sure Linux developers have documentation on the device.
And secret number 3, the tools and systems for reverse engineering USB devices have gotten better and more understood.
Firstly, I use linux for self hosting, and have a love-hate relationship for any other purpose. I’ve been trying to make the full transition since about 2009(?) and always end up back on the spyware-riddled Microswamp ad-delivery system.
I’m going to get downvoted for saying this, but if Linux could make hardware tasks as easy as Microsoft, namely printing, Windows would be a thing of the past.
I could put Mint on my 72 y.o.mom’s computer and she probably wouldn’t notice the difference until she had to do something dealing with hardware (connect a camera, or god forbid, print something). inb4 just use cups - My mom doesn’t gasf about dependencies, chown, and chasing terminal errors for 6 hours to print an agenda for the ladies’ church meeting and then have it break itself the next day. This is why it fails. Linux purists who don’t care that people don’t have time for CLI will disagree, and that is precisely what keeps things in the current state.
Obviously I don’t know your setup, but Linux is far easier for printing in most cases. The drivers are built in, and just work. No third party driver packages full of spyware and ink ads necessary.
Hardware support, in general, has always been a struggle for Linux, but in the last few years, two things have happened to tip the scale: